Lease deal keeps district court in downtown Leominster for 3 years

LEOMINSTER -- The city has signed a deal with the Massachusetts Trial Court that will keep the district court in downtown Leominster for the next three years.

Under the lease agreement Mayor Dean Mazzarella struck with the state, the Trial Court will pay $282,910 per year to the city -- $23,575.83 per month to lease the city-owned building at 25 School St., according to a statement from City Hall spokeswoman Wendy Wiiks.

In July 2011, the Supreme Judicial Court and the Trial Court announced that they planned to relocate the District Court services to Fitchburg and Clinton as part of a statewide consolidation to save money. drawing opposition from the city, Sen. Jennifer Flanagan and the local legal community.

As part of its lobbying effort to save the court, the city prepared a document over 100 pages long that details the court's importance to the city. There are 98 businesses in the downtown area with an estimated 419 employees that could be hurt by the court closing, the report said.

In September 2012, Mazzarella signed a one-year lease extension to keep the court in its current site. Back then, Police Chief Robert Healey said having the courthouse one block from police headquarters on Church Street saves time and fuel expenses for his department.

The courthouse has been at its current location in the former May A. Gallagher Junior High School since Oct. 1, 1996.

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